Is this nesting?!?!

Ok...so they say you go through a "nesting" phase before the baby gets here so I suppose that is what I have been going through the past week or so. Here are a few things that have been going on at our house...

packing the hospital bags...

getting the bathroom ready...

washing the bottles...

...not to mention the clothes that have been washed, the pictures that have been hung in the nursery and the baby equipment that has been assembled! I think we are NOW ready!

Church Shower

Location: SFB West Campus
Date: February 17, 2008
Hostesses: Janelle Pusser, Jennifer Bishop, Brooke Sherbert, Carol Evans

The BEAUTIFUL cake that Janelle brought all the way from Charleston.

Opening all the gifts (and wondering how in the world you use most of them!)

The paintings that Janelle painted to match my nursery. They are gorgeous!

Digging into some FOOD! (My best friend these days.)

A beautiful quilt made by a sweet, sweet lady at church.

Me and my girls, Danielle and LeAnne. They were in my discipleship group for 4 years and I love them to death!

The hostesses!

The Family Shower

Location: Brick Street Cafe
Hostesses: our wonderful cousins!!

Lindsey and I were SOOOO.... excited to get to share a shower together. What a special time for us both with our wonderful family. In this picture I think I am around 36 weeks and she is four weeks behind me.

The huge pile of gifts waiting to be opened.

The YUMMY food! You can see that I had to take a bite of the "love muffin" before I even took the picture!

Let the unwrapping begin!

Caleb got his first flannel shirt sent from his Uncle Corey! I was so excited I think you can practically see my tonsils in this picture.

Monogrammed diaper bags.

Bibs!

The little cousins....

Me and Janelle

All worn out! It takes a lot of energy eating all that food and opening all those gifts.

Me and Linds with the hostesses, our cousins - Andrea Stratman, Tiffany Singer, Pamela Adams and Anna Smith.

WE HAD A BLAST!!!!

SHOWER TIME!!!!

My first shower was February 2 in Anderson. Chad's aunt and some dear friends threw it for us. It was a wonderful time and we got so much fun stuff for little Caleb! Check out the pictures below...

Me with the hostesses

Wonderful high school friends!

Great gifts...now we just have to figure out how to use them all!

The goods!

Three Generations!

Me with the future grandmothers!

The Assembling of the Crib

Chad rolling up his sleeves for the task at hand.

Step 1: It's out of the box

Step 2: Intently reading the instruction manual - we really did! Oh...and ignore my outfit, please. Look, it was Sunday afternoon and this pregnant girl was just going for comfort!

Step 3: The bedspring on the support rails.

Step 4: Adding the sides to complete the look.

Daisy across the hall looking in and wondering what in the world is going on!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!

(minus the bedding which will be put on after it's all washed)

And the name is...

(OK...so I didn't waste a lot of time getting something monogrammed!)







After almost 8 months of debating we have finally chosen a name for this precious little one that will be joining our life in March. We went through the baby name book oodles of times and threw quite a few names around many times. Chad would like one, I wouldn't; I would like one, Chad wouldn't. So after playing that game for a while, we finally came up with one we are both happy with - one that we think is appropriate for a little baby as well as a 50 year old man, something classic and timeless; cute, but not too trendy. The baby formerly known as Baby Boy Byce for most of this pregnancy is actually going to be

CALEB ROSS BYCE

We both just really liked the name Caleb, and Ross is my little brother's middle name, who I love dearly and will unfortunately not be here for the baby's birth. But, I know he is going to LOVE his uncle and once he fully understands the reason he wasn't at his birth, he'll love, respect and look up to him even more!

So, the countdown is on - only 8 more weeks until we get to meet this little gift from God, who if he's as active as he is in my belly, is going to be A LOT of fun!!

In the making...

Me showing off the red stripe.

Chad hanging the ceiling fan.

Mom and dad painting away. They've done a great job!

So the little room is starting to call come together. We still have one more coat of paint and the furniture - which we get to pick up tonight. I'm very excited about that. I'll post a finished product pic as soon as we have one!

Winter Wonderland

Is this not THE BEST thing to find outside your window on a school day?!?!?

Our first snow at the new house. This is a tree in our front yard.

These are the pines that line our side yard.

Yesterday we had our first snow of the year and it was beautiful...at least for the morning. There is nothing like waking up and finding your yard has been showered with white. It is such a beautiful and refreshing thing. And then you walk outside and everything is so quite - no cars, everything is still - only the occassional scream of a child attempting to sled or build a snowman in the 2 or less inches! And to think we are expecting more tonight and tomorrow...

FINALLY!

The Belly at 30 weeks!

Daisy greeting her new brother!

My annual Christmas pic with Corey on Skype!

Chad with his new vest

Me and Linds. We got matching hoodie towels!

If we were having a contest for biggest cousin....I would WIN!

Christmas Morning

We are ready for Christmas!

Our 2007 Christmas card

OK...so I never claimed to be GREAT at this blogging thing. I just said I would give it a try! Although it isn't that hard to update, I just seem to never take the time to do it. Maybe that would be a good New Year's resolution for me!

Things here have been going well. Life is changing quickly and so is my belly! We found out back in October (I think) that we are having a BOY! Unfortunately, he still has no name, so we just call him Baby Boy Byce. I assure you that by the time he gets here he WILL have a name. OR maybe I will just be one of those mom's who names my child after the first thing I see...hmmmm. That could be interesting! We are very excited and have been getting things all ready for his arrival.

It was especially neat being pregnant during Christmas this year. First because I am getting to share this pregnancy with one of the most precious and special people in my life, my cousin, Lindsey. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that this girl is a staple in my life. We have been as close as sisters our entire life and now we are pregnant together. She is four weeks behind me and it has been awesome to have someone so close to share all the pregnancy craziness with! Second, being pregnant at Christmas was neat because it made me reflect even more on the birth of Christ and especially Mary's role in everything - like riding on that donkey so far being SO pregnant! Now that I just can't imagine! Seriously, it did make me think about all that so much and just all the things she must have been thinking and pondering, as the Bible says. I can't imagine how she must have been feeling. I am nervous enough about being a good parent, but to think what it must have been like to know that you were rearing the Christ child. Thankfully, I know we serve a faithful God who will never give us more than we can handle.

I hope everyone is well and that 2008 will be your fullest and most wonderful year yet. I pray you will learn more and grow closer to those you love and to the Father who loves you more than anything! That's my plan...

P.S. The pics at the beginning are from Christmas, with the first one being my most recent belly pic taken just yesterday. We are at 30 weeks now...only 10 more to go!!!!